Amateur, professional fishermen battle over yellow perch

The Associated Press
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A fish so common anglers once called it "the people’s fish" has inspired years of fiery debate between recreational and professional fishermen, and now Maryland authorities are planning to step into the fray over yellow perch.

The state’s Fisheries Service plans a hearing Tuesday to listen to the dueling anglers over the yellow perch, a striped fish less than 1 foot long at full size.

Amateur fishermen complain that yellow perch are being hogged by professionals, who use large hoop nets to scoop up perch in the late winter and early spring as the fish head up Maryland’s tributaries to spawn.

The harvesting advocates counter that the yellow perch stock is healthy and that more limits on the fish will add another restriction to an already troubled industry.

"It has nothing to do with how healthy the stock is, but who gets it," says Larry Simns, head of the Maryland Watermen’s Association.

The debate goes back several years. Recreational fishermen have long pushed for limits on commercial fishing, while the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) tried to negotiate a middle ground.

The conflict grew heated last year, when the DNR’s Fisheries Service suggested lifting an 18-year moratorium on commercial fishing of yellow perch in two rivers on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the Choptank and the Nanticoke.

Hobbyists opposed the change, saying those rivers are among the few places left where recreational fishermen have a fair shot at getting yellow perch.

"Historically on the Eastern Shore, fishermen would be standing shoulder-to-shoulder catching yellow perch," says Robert Glenn, executive director of the Maryland chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association, a fishing group that fought lifting the moratorium.

In areas where commercial fishermen are allowed to use their nets, Glenn says, "they don’t allow recreational fishermen a fair chance." Years ago, he says, yellow perch were much more plentiful.

"We used to call it the people’s fish," Glenn says. "A lot of people got started fishing with yellow perch, standing on the side of a tributary. You didn’t need a lot of expensive equipment."

Mike Benjamin, a charter boat captain out of North East, says he’s seen early-spring fishermen for yellow perch disappear.

"Used to be, it was a nice day, you’d take the kids out to a stream, the yellow perch were easy to catch. That doesn’t happen anymore," Benjamin says.

The commercial business is relatively small. Simns says fewer than 100 people catch yellow perch for sale. It isn’t very popular on Maryland menus, so much of the harvest heads to the Great Lakes region, where yellow perch is commonly served at fish fries or on fried-fish sandwiches.***